With Asian carp threatening the Great Lakes, Ontario is set to become the first jurisdiction in Canada to pass a stand-alone Invasive Species Act.

The act, introduced Wednesday, will provide the framework for dealing with invasive plants and animals, including Asian carp, which Natural Resources Minister David Orazietti says are at Ontario’s doorstep.

“In the past few years we have been hearing more and more about invasive species. Asian carp have overwhelmed some rivers in the United States. . . . Now they are at our doorstep and threatening to invade Ontario waters,” he told a news conference at Queen’s Park.

Ontario is already contending with the zebra mussel invasion of several years ago as well as longhorn beetles, the ash borer beetle, the European common reed, an invasive perennial grass that is damaging ecosystems, and the round goby, a bottom-dwelling fish that can be found now in all five Great Lakes.

“Invasive species pose a threat to our economy and our environment costing the Ontario economy tens of millions of dollars each year. The potential cost is millions more,” Orazietti said.

“Currently Ontario relies on a patchwork of more than 20 federal and provincial acts. None of them was designed specifically to deal with invasive species or their impact on our economy and natural environment,” Orazietti said.

“If the proposed legislation is passed, Ontario will become the first and only jurisdiction in Canada that has stand-alone invasive species legislation,” he said.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she’s concerned the bill will put too much emphasis on how to deal with invasive species after they have already settled in.

“An invasive species act that deals with the fallout after the fact seems to me a little bit short on action . . . if we can get the carp stopped before they come up into our waterways, we will be much, much better off,” she said.

Last year, researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey and Bowling Green State University reported for the first time they’ve determined a species of .

Grass carp were among four species imported from Asia decades ago to control algae and unwanted plants in controlled settings such as sewage treatment lagoons. They escaped and now choke the Mississippi and other rivers and lakes in the Midwest U.S.

Progressive Conservative MPP Toby Barrett (Haldimand-Norfolk) has been warning the legislature and the public for some time about the threat posed by Asian carp.

“The clock is ticking. I don’t have my hopes up that we can prevent Asian carp from coming into the Great Lakes,” he said, adding that any Asian carp shipped to Ontario should be gutted first, not just packed in ice.

Terry Quinney, provincial manager for fish and wildlife services at the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, said it is not hyperbole to say the Asian carp pose a risk of biblical proportion.

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